We're pleased to bring you a bit of a world scoop on Gore-Tex
Pro Shell the latest Gore-Tex fabric development, due out later
this year, around August / September to be more precise.
New Pro Shell will effectively replaced Gore-Tex XCR in the Gore
range of fabrics, but says Gore's John McDonald, it's 'more than
just the next step in XCR'. You'll be seeing a lot more of this
label in the shops come the autmn...
All Change
So what are the big differences? As far as we can tell, the
membrane itself remains essentially the same - more on that in a
moment - however there are big changes to the inner fabric of
three-ply Pro Shell. While XCR uses a kntted liner fabric, the new
Pro Shell has something called GORE Micro Grid Backer Technology.
What that little mouthfull actually means is that the inner lining
of Pro Shell is closely woven instead of knitted. There's a very
obvious visible difference, you can actually see the tight weave of
the liner compared to the old knitted version, but - says Gore -
there are numerous performance advantages too.
And here it is.
Lighter...
The new fabric is lighter than before by a significant
amount. The new woven fabric is over 50 per-cent lighter than the
previous knitted backer which saves around 60 grammes in overall
weight on a typical jacket.
Added to that is another 20 grammes saved by using narrower seam
tape which also blends in better with the liner for a neater
appearance.
Slicker...
Next, the new fabric has a slicker surface which means it glides
over inner layers more readily leading to greater mobility
when you're moving within your jacket or pants. It's simply slicker.
It also feels softer and more flexible than its XCR equivalent,
simply because the liner is thinner.
Tougher...
Then there's durability. McDonald showed us some slides of
Pro Shell and non-Pro Shell garments which had been through the same
lab and field testing procedures and where the old knitted liner was
already showing signs of wear, Pro Shell's Micro Grid Backer looked
almost new.
'A Pro Shell garment, ' he says. 'Doesn't age at anywhere near the
same rate.'
More Breathable
Last but not least, McDonald also says that Pro Shell is more
breathable, in fact he claims: 'New Pro Shell is more breathable than
anything ese available.'
In lab tests, Pro Shell fabrics produced RET values between 3 and
6, with one carefully selected face fabric producing a score as low
as 2.5. To put that in perspective, three-layer XCR has been quoted
as having an RET of 5.1 - lower is better - while eVENT Is around
4.5.
Side by side, Pro Shell left and XCR right. The
new woven inner is
lighter, more breathable and slides more easily over inner
layers.
In tests it's also proven far more durable and resistant to
abrasion.
Bear in mind though that lab tests don't tell the full story and
eVENT says, with some justification, that the way RET testing is
conducted puts their material at a disadvantage. Real world testing
suggests that this is true, we've found eVENT to be significantly
more breathable than XCR and, to underline that, at least one Gore
employee has told us that eVENT is roughly on a par with Windstopper,
when it comes to breathability.
Anyway, time and testing will tell, but McDonald says that the
improvements in breahtability are down to a combination of the
thinner liner being more breathable, a careful choice of face fabrics
- the material on the outside - and the use of different membranes to
suit the face and liner fabrics.
What hasn't changed is the basic technology of the membrane. It's
still a ptfe layer with a thin smear of hydrophyllic PU on the inside
to protect the membrane from contamination.
Performance Shell Too
There are other changes too. As well as the demise of XCR, the
fabric known as 'Classic Gore-Tex' - which always sounded as bit like
like a rusting vintage car to us - is going to, with a new fabric
called Performance Shell taking its place.
While Pro Shell, like XCR, is aimed at high level technical use
and priced accordingly, Performance Shell still has a knitted backer
and is for everything else. Like Pro Shell, it comes in two and
three-layer versiions and that's it really.
Finally, Gore-Tex Paclite carries on as Gore's lightest
performance fabric, so no change there, though we've already seen
some extrememly light Pro Shell jackets from the likes of
Haglofs.
What It Means For You?
In simple terms, from around September 2007 onwards, no more XCR,
no more Classic Gore-Tex, instead Gore-Tex Pro Shell and Gore-Tex
Performance Shell and if the claims are correct, Pro Shell should be
interesting and significantly better than XCR.
Should you wait for the new fabric? Probably not if you're going
to get soaked to the skin in the mean time. We also suspect that
you'll find XCR at some very good prices later this year, so it might
be a good time to grab an XCR bargain.
As far as different brands go, some are producing a whole new
range of jackets with the new fabric - Lowe Alpine for example -
others, like Mountain Equipment - are mostly just converting their
proven existing jackets to the new fabric, giving a lighter overall
jacket with better performance.
Testing, Testing...
The good news is that we now have some Pro Shell test kit which
we'll be using over the next few months and reporting back. We're
also trying to arrange for a small number of OM users to try Pro
Shell for themselves once samples are available but before the kit
goes on sale. So watch this space :-)
baoth mooney
We're looking at some of the new waterproof jackets for this winter.
